The widow and teenage daughter of David Sherrard faced his killer in court and offered gut-wrenching testimony about what that man took away from them.

Convicted Murderer Brandon McCall often looked down at his lawyer’s desk while the widow of the police officer he killed took the stand during the punishment phase of his murder trial.

“I had a bad feeling,” Nicole Sherrard told the jury after getting a text message that an officer had been shot while investigating a murder at a Richardson apartment complex.

Nicole Sherrard – David Sherrard’s widow (CBS 11).

The widow of Officer David Sherrard says when she went to the hospital that night in 2018, “The doctor walked in and said please sit down. He said he didn’t make it and I hit the floor saying ‘no’.”

She went on to talk about the years since.

“I’m struggling, he was my protector and my best friend, I’m lost.”

David Sherrard (credit: Richardson Police Department)

It was an emotional end to the state’s case that McCall should be executed for the shootout he had with police after he killed his roommate.

McCall chose not to testify during his trial.

Brandon De McCall (Image via Richardson Police Dept.)

But on Tuesday the jury heard a recorded phone call the defendant made from jail, telling a friend, “I wanted to go to war with police.. I don’t know, I just couldn’t take anymore, I didn’t know what else to do.”

Police detectives also uncovered McCall’s social media posts that prosecutors say showed him engaging in illegal drug transactions and sporting an ominous tattoo that reads living to die.

The final state witness was Sherrard’s 15-year-old daughter who had Prosecutor Bill Wirskye fighting back tears when she told the jury, “He was my best friend, he was my go to person. These last 2 years have been really hard.”

The first defense witness on the stand was McCall’s sister-in-law who is providing character testimony to try to convince the jury to spare him from a death sentence.